Music Roundup 6/20/17
A busy week considering our XXL Freshman Class coverage, so excuse us for being a day late! Nevertheless, we hope you enjoy our weekly roundup of the records worth paying attention to or leaving far behind.
Big Boi – BOOMIVERSE
Genre: Southern Hip Hop
Favorite Tracks: “Kill Jill (featuring Killer Mike and Jeezy),” “In the South (featuring Gucci Mane and Pimp C),” “Follow Deez (featuring Curren$y and Killer Mike)”
Recent albums from the rap legends of two decades ago consistently prove an interesting challenge in terms of music journalism. There’s a reason their creators have become so ingrained in popular music culture, so they’re virtually never bad, but with a new teenager from SoundCloud getting millions of hits and tearing across the blogosphere every other day, the fact of the matter is quite simply that nobody has too much time to care either way! Big Boi’s latest release, BOOMIVERSE, does absolutely nothing to shake up this presumption. When he bears down and gives it his all, especially over production that recalls the swampy, Southern sonic mire from which he originally emerged, he’s just as good as he ever was, but generally separated from the dichotomy offered by Outkast and drifting somewhat aimlessly through a universe of production that sounds as modern and polished as it does unmemorable, the ultimate returns are minimal. The standout track by far is “Kill Jill,” which makes use of a goddamned Hatsune Miku sample as Big Boi, Killer Mike, and Jeezy get together to shoot the shit and recall the glory days of the early trap. In general, any time Killer Mike appears ears are inspired to be perked up, but that’s not exactly the most ringing endorsement of Big Boi as an emcee at the age of 42. BOOMIVERSE doesn’t feel like your dad rapping, but it certainly does feel like a tangentially cool uncle is hogging the mic, and as always, all it serves to do is make you root harder for an Outkast reunion album so that we can all be happy ‘membering for a little while. [Thomas Seraydarian]
Verdict: Do Not Recommend
Big Thief – CAPACITY
Genre: Indie Rock
Favorite Tracks: “Shark Smile,” “Coma,” “Mythological Beauty,” “Mary”
Nice! I can’t sit here and tell you that Big Thief is reinventing the wheel with CAPACITY, but it’s a pleasant little tummy rub for your earholes after a long, hard day of slogging through the XXL Freshman Class. Having just started releasing music last year with MASTERPIECE, Big Thief is another stellar entry in the soft-spoken, extremely sincere wave of lo-fi indie rock that we’re currently riding. For fans of Eskimeaux and Florist, but with a heftier dose of folk-tinged singer/songwriter sensibilities, you can expect a bountiful harvest of lovely, melancholic melodies, subject material almost exclusively dealing with the personally sentimental, lots of languid, soothing plucked guitar, and Adrianne Lenker’s lilting, softly crooning voice, which perfectly complements all of the above. However, some of the record’s most rewarding moments occur when the band breaks the mould and turns the energy up to 11, such as the bridge in “Great White Shark” and the blues-y, feedback-laden opener to “Shark Smile.” But things don’t get much better than tracks such as “Mythological Beauty,” where pristine and accessible song structure causes the record to reach a soaring high on the back of a head-bobbing, pensive groove. “Mary”’s absolutely haunting, piano-driven balladry is also likely to bring you to your knees. Put aside your presumed distaste for Pitchfork and trust them on this one. [Thomas Seraydarian]
Verdict: Recommend
The Birthday Massacre – UNDER YOUR SPELL
Genre: Industrial Rock, Synthpop
Favorite Tracks: “Under Your Spell,” “All of Nothing,” “Games,” “Hex,” “Endless”
The Birthday Massacre’s music has always sounded like the theme to a horror anime: supernatural wonder and threat come together to set a dark, compelling atmosphere that leaves you interested in the episode to come, but it sometimes feels a little too cliché and hollow in actual substance. 2014’s SUPERSTITION featured tighter writing and more vivid character portraits of people lost on distant shores and discovering a world beyond our own, while the band’s layers of eerie synth, blaring guitars, and pretty vocals sounded better and bigger than ever before. The stories are certainly not as gripping, but the choruses are just as sharp and dramatic, and lead singer Chibi is still a slippery shapeshifter. She plays an innocent damsel in way over her head, a scorned lover who once thought she had found the one, and a menacing force bringing death wherever she roams, conveying the same feelings of danger and mystery as you’ve come to expect from Birthday Massacre. The production is rooted in industrial and electronic music rather than rock, with layers of new wave synth and rumbling bass upset by stabs of distorted guitar that come in at all the right moments. It’s very polished and clean, but the poppy hooks and melodies never detract from the sense of impending doom that Birthday Massacre masterfully plant in every note. Some tracks like “One” and “The Lowest Low” feel too space-y, and similarly lack the punch that also plagued 2012’s HIDE AND SEEK, but the rest of the tracklist makes up for it. While I wouldn’t recommend newcomers to this band or darkwave start with it, it still features the solid, consistent musicianship that allows Birthday Massacre to overcome their eye-roll worthy name and image, a rare example of a gimmick with the chops and conviction to make it not seem stupid. [Blake Michelle]
Verdict: Recommend
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma – ON THE ECHOING GREEN
Genre: Shoegaze, Ambient
Favorite Tracks: “In A Copse,” “The Faun,” “Tenderness,” “Vulgar Latin,” “Door To Night”
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma’s latest full-length offers a blissful, surprising combination of hair raising noise degradation and ballad-style shoegaze instrumentals lead almost exclusively by a chorus-drenched guitar. A plethora of humming synths and cell-phone drum machines juxtapose those jangly strings to paint a slow, hot afternoon in late summer; distorted pieces laden with homey field recordings of piano, birds, and noise complement the record’s lengthier pieces as bookends and interludes that sound wholly meticulous and unsettling. Lead single “A Song Of Summer” and mid-album highlight, “Tenderness,” demonstrate the former to a T, with heartstrings drawn out over harmonies led by a warm, indistinguishable voice and a blanket of fuzz. When you aren’t embarking on one of ON THE ECHOING GREEN’s six slow jams, “In A Copse,” “Vulgar Latin,” and “Door To Night” offer a strange solace—brittle textures and decomposed noise rather than the walls of gleaming silk surrounding most of the record. As with 2016’s standout EP, IN SUMMER, Cantu-Ledesma’s mindset for hypnotic drone finds a good home in retro-futuristic instrumentation, albeit now more accessible to the casual shoegaze fan, nonetheless unfettered in his ability to uplift and mystify. [Micha Knauer]
Verdict: Recommend
Cigarettes After Sex – S/T
Genre: Dream Pop, Shoegaze
Favorite Tracks: “John Wayne,” “Apocalypse,” “Sunsetz,” “Each Time You Fall in Love”
Good things come to those who wait. Texas native Greg Gonzalez and his rotating set of musicians have been releasing music as Cigarettes After Sex for nearly a decade now. After a mix of singles, YouTube clips, and the 2012 EP I, fans of dream pop have finally been graced with the self-titled CIGARETTES AFTER SEX. Gonzalez’s songwriting style is honest and accessible, revolving pretty much exclusively around the topic of romantic love. On the opening track “K.,” Gonzalez hums, “I remember when I first noticed that you liked me back / We were sitting down in the restaurant waiting for the check.” Throughout the album, he blends simple images of lust and innocence, devotion and heartbreak. For some, these lyrics will come off as too on-the-nose compared to, say, an act like Beach House, whose lyrics are shrouded in guile and mystery. Regardless, when the musical interludes roll in (there’s one in almost every song) the lyrics simply don’t matter. This is music that rushes from your ears straight to the pit of your stomach, with a sound evoking Slowdive’s SOUVLAKI. Gonzalez’s androgynous voice is tender and lovesick, the voice behind a heart that’s been broken countless times but would fall in love again in a second. On “Sunsetz” he croons, “And when you go away I still see you / This always happens to me this way.” True, the songs do tend to blend into each other and offer little differentiation on a first listen. If this album were a painting, it would be monochromatic. But does it matter when that color is used in such depth, with such finesse? If you simply can’t get enough of intimate, hazy, shoegaze-y pop, you’ll find yourself listening to this on repeat until you realize—you’ve officially developed a crush on this album. [Claire Epting]
Verdict: Recommend
Halsey – HOPELESS FOUNTAIN KINGDOM
Genre: Electropop
Favorite Tracks: “100 Letters,” “Strangers (featuring Lauren Jauregui)”
People hate Halsey. REALLY hate her. As with any female pop star, a large portion of the hate is destined to be generated from bottom-feeding message board fuckos, but even if you were to sidestep the blatantly misogynistic commentary, there’s still large swaths of listeners who decry her as artistically bankrupt and open to blatant plagiarism. Much as when faced with the volcanic vitriol geared towards Ed Sheeran’s latest, I actually find myself at a far more moderate position of assessment than many of my peers: since I consider popular artists such as Lorde and Lana Del Rey with little more than a shrug, I can’t really discern what makes Halsey particularly offensive. HOPELESS FOUNTAIN KINGDOM is a horrific title for an album, but other than that . . . it sounds exactly like what I was expecting it to! Apart from the laughably despicable, sloppy-blowjob-detailing, Quavo-featuring “Lie,” it’s a collection of contemporary/alt-R&B-leaning, shiny, synthesized pop tunes, perfect for remixes by EDM festival artists and resolutely “fine” for anyone listening in the context of a full album. Halsey’s voice is average, or just slightly above it on occasion! I can’t remember a single hook off of this album! Sometimes if I close my eyes hard enough, I can kinda, sorta pretend that it’s a trip hop album every few tracks or so! The lyrics are try-hard and occasionally cringe-worthy! It’s a corporate product designed to land singles on KIIS FM and lead to more features with The Chainsmokers, and it never pretends to be anything more than that! No real hot takes to be had! [Thomas Seraydarian]
Verdict: Do Not Recommend
iLoveMakonnen – FUN SUMMER VOL. 1
Genre: Cloud Rap, Trap Rap
Favorite Tracks: “Killing Me”
Look folks, it’s 2017—I can’t tell you why I still felt the need to include new iLoveMakonnen in our weekly music roundup, but here we are. I don’t have to tell you that he released the briefly ubiquitous “Tuesday” back in 2013, but I might have to reassure you that the man has continued to put out music at a surprisingly brisk clip, with a minimum of two releases each year that he’s been relevant. You don’t remember all six installments of the DRINK MORE WATER series? Neither do I, and if FUN SUMMER VOL. 1’s any indication, we’re set for another collection of middling mixtapes and EPs to happily ignore. I don’t get the appeal here: the only thing I can really point to as being distinct is conditional. If Makonnen bothers to write lyrics out, he’s got a remarkable propensity for making them feel hastily construed and amateurish, but he’s not winning anyone over in the process. While his “best” has historically consisted of a boastful sense of braggadocio filtered through a nigh childlike, nursery-rhyme-reminiscent sing-song delivery, Makonnen seems to have tempered out the only point in his favor over the course of recording FUN SUMMER VOL. 1. These are just lackadaisical, uninvested bars that make no attempt to excite the listener and are virtually entirely dead on arrival, but also featuring production that isn’t hard-hitting or heavy enough to skate by on being “ignant.” But perhaps the most frustrating thing of all is that the far-too-short opener, “Killing Me,” promises something quite exciting! Channeling the tinny kitsch of early-aughts European house that I know and love, iLoveMakonnen actually makes a very convincing case as someone that could hold his own in the Pitbull and Flo Rida realm of club rap before literally cutting himself off mid-phrase and subjecting us to another 26 minutes of nothing. Sad! [Thomas Seraydarian]
Verdict: Do Not Recommend
Loss – HORIZONLESS
Genre: Funeral Doom Metal
Favorite Tracks: “The Joy of All Who Sorrow,” “Naught,” “Horizonless”
Whoo-boy, talk about a lopsided record. “The Joy of All Who Sorrow” is exactly what it sounds like, an over-10-minute epic dirge of crushing anguish that seeks to demolish the souls of the mere mortals who dare to take it in. Near the end of the track, when Mike Meacham triumphantly declares, “I have come to know the joy of all who sorrow,” the song naturally erupts in a frenzied crescendo of pain. It feels as though the rest of the album should be leading to a similar dynamic of pummeling brutality, but sadly, most of this record is more quietly moody than openly sorrowful. Funeral Doom is meant to invoke dirge-like feelings, but this record mostly settles for slightly unsettling atmosphere rather than any deeper emotion. The album art seems intent on presenting the oppressive vastness of space itself, but most of the record doesn’t feel any more intimidating than a goth kid’s dorm room. Good metal should either be so cartoonishly devilish that it’s fun, or so undeniably emotionally wrenching that it has to be succumbed to. Unfortunately, HORIZONLESS never reaches either extreme. For those fully immersed in all the metal corners of the internet, there are moments to latch onto; the long-form tracks that make up the bulk of this record aren’t inherently bad, they’re just more focused on atmosphere than any of the other components that usually make metal so engaging to listen to. However, if you’re a more casual metal fan who mostly just dips their toes into different waters, this is one you can skip. [Carter Moon]
Verdict: Do Not Recommend
Major Lazer – KNOW NO BETTER EP
Genre: Moombahton, Dancehall, Dance-Pop
Favorite Tracks: “Buscando huellas (featuring J Balvin and Sean Paul),” “Jump (featuring Busy Signal)”
It’s generally known these days that Diplo is trash, and ever since he’s gotten a taste of what seems to be a constant string of appearances in Vegas, his music’s only gotten more blown-out and broadly banal, the sonic equivalent of the $20+ neon drinks quaffed by his core fan base. However, and I will swear this to my dying breath, all the way back in 2009, the then nascent Major Lazer made a very good, endlessly ass-shaking, and unfortunately titled record called GUNS DON’T KILL PEOPLE . . . LAZERS DO. Eight years later, does KNOW NO BETTER promise a return to form? Hell no! The majority of the tracks are the toothless riddim bleats that get drunk white women hyped in the club and nobody else, sound stretched past any logical point of restraint or authorial presence, blaring synthesizers turned into white noise. The one shining exception is “Jump (featuring Busy Signal),” which hits the bouncing, manic stride of their debut and features a breakdown that is so abrasive and vulgar that it’s nearly nauseating, but works perfectly considering the overall milieu of the project and the perception of Major Lazer in general. The other track that transcends its limitations is “Buscando huellas (featuring J Balvin and Sean Paul),” which hits an effortless dancehall stride that is loyal to its Latin roots (an antidote to the now-famous “Despacito” incident, if you will) and features the perpetually underrated and entertaining Sean Paul as the cherry on top. And sure, every summer needs a pool party jam, and the club rap crossover “Know No Better (featuring Travis Scott, Camila Cabello, and Quavo)” scratches that itch for the few that have it. You’ll hear cuts from this in Vegas! You probably won’t find anyone actually listening to the entire release other than music journalists! Listen to “Jump” and move on! [Thomas Seraydarian]
Verdict: Do Not Recommend
Kevin Morby – CITY MUSIC
Genre: Singer/Songwriter, Folk Rock
Favorite Tracks: “Crybaby,” “Dry Your Eyes,” “Aboard My Train,” “Downtown’s Lights,” “Night Time”
With CITY MUSIC, Morby has crafted a work that wears its influences prominently on its sleeve while still managing to be definitively his. Morby, a former member of the throwbacky Brooklyn outfit Woods, comes from the East Coast, Kurt Vile/War on Drugs school of indie, providing us with spacious and sparse indie jams that evoke a sense of feeling very small in a big world. Songs like “Come to Me Now” paint tales of isolation against a stark, big-city backdrop. Unlike Vile or TWOD’s Adam Granduciel, though, Morby sometimes evokes a Television-style, slightly punk edge—“1234” contains explicit references to the Ramones—that doesn’t result in the most outstanding cuts from this record, but does inject some much needed energy in the spots where CITY MUSIC starts to withdraw too far inside itself. Morby sounds most comfortable in his lackadaisical, folk-y croon on tracks like “Crybaby” and “Caught in my Eye,” when he can effortlessly float through them in a slightly Lou Reed-ish manner. CITY MUSIC doesn’t inspire many “large” feelings of heartbreak or isolation itself, but these themes exist all throughout the woodwork of this record, peeking through the space that Morby leaves open and making this record perfect for a late-night bout of melancholy. [Adam Cash]
Verdict: Recommend
Genre: Experimental Rock, Math Rock
Favorite Tracks: “Walkie Talkie,” “Two Toes,” “Trying,” “Sign to Signal”
In an excellent show of growth since their 2015 debut, TRADING BASICS, Palm’s latest EP is a jittery, swirling, hallucinogenic joyride of bright dual guitars and gripping percussion. Communication is key in both SHADOW EXPERT’s content and character: voices clashing with their own instruments all keeping odd time, calling back and forth in a typhoon of sweet timbre and tone; the artwork itself even relies on a conversation between the flat, stark colors offered as repeated shapes and signs, and clear space. “Walkie Talkie” and “Walnut” most exemplify that radical importance of negative space between brush strokes as each member of Palm circles the others, filling in rhythmic nooks not occupied by another. Carried by a lush drum lead, lucid, filtered vocals, and making precise, eclectic use of guitar texture—each performance well occupies its own territory, helping tracks like “Shadow Expert” and “Two Toes” feature complex sonic freakouts without turning muddy. The climactic “Trying” and “Sign To Signal” take the repetitive tension presented throughout the earlier tracks to the extreme, building harsh looping melodies under harmonious leads in a whirlwind of echoing psychedelic fervor that’ll get fans of anything from Hella to Walter TV bobbing with each iteration. The only complaint I can have for a record this solid is just how soon it’s cut short! At 17 minutes, SHADOW EXPERT’s six tracks fly by and require multiple listens, though luckily, Palm take extra care composing an intricate, timeless sound that invites endless plays without ever seeming to grow dull. [Micha Knauer]
Verdict: Recommend
Palehound – A PLACE I’LL ALWAYS GO
Genre: Indie Rock
Favorite Tracks: “Silver Toaster,” “Turning 21,” “Backseat”
In the dearth of interchangeable, homogenous indie rock currently clogging the market, it really doesn’t take that much to stand out from the crowd. Boston singer-songwriter Ellen Kempner (known as Palehound) stood out on her 2015 release DRY FOOD with tracks like “Cinnamon,” a rollicking, propulsive, and unpredictable track with a guitar virtuosity that was giddily entertaining. Unfortunately, that one track alone had more dynamic and engaging ideas than the entirety of A PLACE I’LL ALWAYS GO. Her newest offering is mostly as dry and homogeneous as any of the other pastel-shaded indie artists like Diet Cig and Adult Mom that continue to blend together more and more as of late. Much more moody and introspective than DRY FOOD, there are moments on this record that are truly bleak and at least illicit a sort of starkly numb feeling, such as “Backseat.” Mostly, though, there’s a cloying sense of disingenuity to these tracks, an unarticulated and not fully confronted melancholy clinging to the edges that rarely fully comes to the forefront. Songs like “Hunter’s Gun” are sort of dark and filled with a vague paranoia, but it’s as if the dread never fully surfaces. It’s not that I’m against Kempner making a more depressing album, quite the contrary, I’d prefer if it felt as though she fully owned whatever darker feelings have come to the surface since DRY FOOD. Songs like “Feeling Fruit” hint at a bout of pretty severe depression, but it’s hard to feel like it’s fully expressed. That’s not saying she’s under any obligation to open up about what’s going on in her personal life, but when there’s so clearly a shift in tone from her last record, there is a desire for a certain level of emotional honesty that’s to be expected. Vague, poorly understood sadness is hard to live with, but unfortunately it doesn’t translate to particularly captivating music, either. [Carter Moon]
Verdict: Do Not Recommend
Phoenix – TI AMO
Genre: Synthpop, New Wave
Favorite Tracks: “Goodbye Soleil,” “Telefono”
The mildly amusing anecdote that has followed Phoenix around throughout their career is that they haven’t been able to find much success in their home country of France. Since I’m no expert on the French taste in popular music, I won’t speculate to why, but I can say that Phoenix has never sounded more goddamn European than they do on TI AMO. There is a heavy, almost distracting, RANDOM ACCESS MEMORIES influence on this record, and consequently, heavy influence from the airy, metropolitan synth and dance music popular throughout Western Europe. The result is a record that functions, but doesn’t impress. Phoenix have always had a bit of dance influence in their music, but largely abandoning their indie rock influences for the sunny synth music that has been performed in a more timely and, frankly, better way by bands like The 1975 and Saint Motel is a risk that backfires. The most interesting cut is by far “Goodbye Soleil,” combining a stuttering and sparse dance beat reminiscent of the Tom Tom Club with a simplistic but highly appealing series of melodies that is the most unique and radical thing to be found here. “Fleur de Lys,” featuring a beat jacked from Fela Kuti’s “Expensive Shit,” also stands out, providing a little bit of flair to TI AMO’s relatively stiff rhythms. Fortunately, for the WOLFGANG AMADEUS PHOENIX truthers among us, closing track “Telefono” circles back a bit to the older Phoenix sound, as well as a touch of the Strokes circa ANGLES. It’s a great song to close a dance record with, a sonic representation of the feeling of physical and emotional comedown after a night of shaking your groove thing. TI AMO is ultimately an okay record, but it also means that Phoenix has torn down a lot of what separated them from their contemporaries in hopes of scoring something that might go farther up those ever-elusive Syndicat charts. [Adam Cash]
Verdict: Do Not Recommend
Rise Against – WOLVES
Genre: Punk Rock, Melodic Hardcore
Favorite Tracks: “Wolves,” “The Violence,” “Far From Perfect,” “Miracles”
The fact that the biggest melodic hardcore band today have yet to release a lackluster or disappointing album is certainly impressive given the typical diminishing returns of punk-derived energy and rage. I was scared that WOLVES was going to be the first, given that the band has signed to a new label and gotten rid of the producers of their last four albums in favor of a guy who produced Korn’s last album. My fears weren’t entirely warranted; the righteous political fury that mostly took a backseat on THE BLACK MARKET is back on “Wolves,” “The Violence,” and “Bullshit,” and the bridges are great at keeping up the momentum and nullifying the second-act sag that befalls so much other mainstream rock. The production still hits the perfect balance of melody and rawness that Rise Against has always had, and even the ultra-melodic “Far From Perfect” had enough conviction to put a smile on my face. However, some of the lyrics on WOLVES are far cheesier and hyperbolic than they should be, and while Tim McIlrath is a great singer who can handle fist-in-the-air anthems with more sincerity than many of his peers, even he can’t save these songs. “Parts Per Million” condescendingly repeats the lesson from “Horton Hears A Who,” “Welcome to the Breakdown” wastes one of the album’s best riffs on the thinnest chorus the band has ever put together, and “Mourning in Amerika” is an embarrassingly edgy attempt to comment on present events that pales in comparison to the similar “Collapse (Post-Amerika)” and “Endgame” from the band’s past. Rise Against albums have a habit of growing on me with time, but there’s so many great punk albums in their back catalogue (THE SUFFERER AND THE WITNESS, APPEAL TO REASON, ENDGAME) that have the high points of WOLVES but far fewer low points, and as such, I suggest giving those a spin first instead of this. [Blake Michelle]
Verdict: Do Not Recommend
White Suns – PSYCHIC DRIFT
Genre: Power Electronics, Dark Ambient
Favorite Tracks: “Korea,” “A Year Without Summer”
Is it possible to be both avant-garde and unoriginal? Noise rock band White Suns have abandoned their blistering guitars and deluge of drums in favor of a completely power electronics/drone sound on their new record PSYCHIC DRIFT. While the record is an undeniably brutal and occasionally thrilling ride, it’s hard not to feel like it’s delivering ideas that have already been presented elsewhere. In other genres, mimicking sounds and ideas from other artists just makes sense, but when we start to get into the weird worlds of industrial and experimental music, the standard becomes much higher for an artist to be truly original. If you’re familiar with the work of people like Merzbow, Pharmakon, and Whitehouse, it’s hard to say you’ll really find much that really feels boundary-pushing on this record. In particular, it’s a little frustrating how much Kevin Barry’s vocal delivery feels like a cross between Whitehouse’s William Bennet and Phil Elverum, without quite as much mania or poetic precision. Again, this is not to say this is a poorly made record, but it may not be as transgressive as it clearly wants to be. Furthermore, fans of White Sun’s earlier, guitar-oriented sound are likely to be fairly disappointed by the complete lack of guitars on this record; there is relatively little to hold onto melodically on this album, even compared to the chaos of records like TOTEM. If you enjoy aural abuse, this record is not to be missed, but for people with softer ear drums who want their experimental music to come to the table with an actual hypothesis, this is probably one you can skip. [Carter Moon]
Verdict: Do Not Recommend
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[…] had writing for Merry-Go-Round Magazine (or Crossfader for that matter). It forced me to confront a positive review I’d previously written for this site, that being for their last record UNDER YOUR SPELL, which I had admittedly not listened to until […]